Pope gives Facebook his blessing

Turns out the Vatican wants to get all hip and cool, and down with the young folk. In a digital address entitled “Truth, Proclamation and Authenticity of Life in the Digital Age,” Pope Benedict XVI gave social networking his blessing, but warned that it cannot replace real human contact. The proclamation, created for the Catholic Church’s World Day of Communications, noted, “I would like then to invite Christians, confidently and with an informed and responsible creativity, to join the network of relationships which the digital era has made possible.”

Warning of the dangers of getting hung up on digital relationships he wrote “It is important always to remember that virtual contact cannot and must not take the place of direct human contact with people at every level of our lives”

Not wanting to be left behind, in an age of digital the Vatican has made a number of social media powered tools on it’s website, including Pope2you, which links users to its YouTube and Facebook pages. There’s even an iPhone application for those of you dedicated enough to the faith to download it.